Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation (UBI) therapy, a process of irradiating blood samples with ultraviolet radiation to treat infections, was developed in the early part of the twentieth century. Irradiation of blood with ultraviolet radiation was shown to be effective in curing bacterial and viral infections, as well as wounds, asthma, and arthritis. This treatment has been shown to improve several biochemical and heamatological markers, without any significant reported toxicity or side effects.
Edblom and Knott disclosed a means for treating blood-stream infections using ultraviolet irradiation in U.S. Pat. No. 1,683,877 issued as early as 1928. Although UBI was gaining increased use into the mid-twentieth century, the emergence of chemical antibiotics saw the process drop into disuse.
However, several patents issued over the last decade or so, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,738 (Stinson); U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,770,147 and 5,782,872 (Muller); U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,245,570 and 6,696,023 (Grimm et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,593 (Petrie); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,716 (Clark) point to a rebirth of interest in and use of UBI as a curative and possibly preventative therapy. Factors contributing to this revival of interest may be attributed, among others, to the non-pathogen specific nature of UBI treatment, emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria and viruses, and to the general public showing an increased interest in alternative forms of medical treatment.
Common features of devices used for UBI treatment include lamps that produce light in the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum, reflectors to reflect the light onto the sample container, and power and control systems. The containers for the sample are made from materials transparent to ultraviolet radiation such as quartz or suitable polymeric materials.
The devices may be classified into two categories, viz., flow-through devices and static devices. In a typical flow-through device, exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,716, blood drawn directly from the body of a user passes via a conduit system through a container, such as a quartz cuvette, where the blood is irradiated with ultraviolet light. The irradiated blood is then collected in a suitable collection means and returned to the user through the container, where it may be irradiated again. On the other hand, in a typical static device, blood is withdrawn from the user using a standard syringe, transferred to a cuvette for irradiation, and returned to the user after irradiation by means of another syringe. An example of a device of the aforementioned type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,147.
The devices and methods of prior art have inherent disadvantages. For example, flow-through devices involve the use of elaborate plastic tubing, bags, separate cuvettes, and other paraphernalia. This complexity increases, inter alia, the possibility of the blood being contaminated from external sources and an increase in the risk of health hazards to the user. Static devices involve the transfer of blood from the container in which it is drawn from the user to a container where it is irradiated and to a different container in which it is returned to the user. This multi-step transfer process also increases the risk of contamination. The use of several components in a single treatment also increases the overall cost of UBI therapy.